Even though San Jose Sharks forward Jonathan Cheechoo doesn’t believe in New Year’s resolutions, he sure did start things off with a bang.

Cheechoo found the back of the net three times tonight against the Columbus Blue Jackets and helped his team to a 6-3 victory all while picking up his second hat-trick of the season.  He leads the Sharks with 23 goals on the season.

Prior to the game, Cheechoo was recognized as the Seagate Technology "Sharks Player of the Month" for December.  Cheechoo led all NHL goal scorers with 13 goals in 13 games.  He added four assists, giving him a total of 17 points for the month. 

"When you get as many opportunities as Cheechoo gets, you are going to score a lot of goals," said Sharks head coach Ron Wilson.  "He keeps getting set up wonderfully by both Joe [Thornton] and [Nils] Ekman.   Once it gets on his stick, he is going to get a quality shot off."

Both Thornton and Ekman ended up with four points in tonight’s game.  Ekman, who had four assists against the Colorado Avalanche on Dec. 30, picked up four more tying a franchise record in consecutive game assists set by Kelly Kisio in 1992.

"He had struggled with his confidence early in the year and now he has picked his game up and turned it around and now he’s playing really well," said Cheechoo of Ekman’s success on the new line.  "It’s nice to see him excelling."

"He does all the little things," said Thornton about Ekman’s recent performance.  "He grabs loose pucks – he compliments me and Cheechoo."

Nearly four minutes into the game, Cheechoo put the puck past Blue Jackets’ goalie Marc Denis to get his first goal of the night.  Denis managed to stop both Ekman’s and Thornton’s shots, but failed to prevent Cheechoo from giving the Sharks the early 1-0 lead.

Thornton put the Sharks ahead with a 2-0 lead after putting Ekman’s rebounded shot past Denis.

The Sharks gave up the lead after giving up two goals to the Blue Jackets.  Rick Nash and Michael Rupp both scored for the Blue Jackets, tying up the game 2-2 by the end of the first period.

Cheechoo and Grant Stevenson put the Sharks ahead by two goals at the end of the second period.  With four seconds remaining on Rupp’s interference call, Stevenson managed to push the puck past Denis after receiving a behind-the-net pass from Marcel Goc. 

Nash managed to cut the Shark’s lead with his one-time slap shot 0:25 seconds into the final period.  The goal came while Sharks’ forward Milan Michalek was serving a two-minute holding penalty that carried on into the third period. 

Sharks’ defenseman Christian Ehrhoff picked up his first goal on the season after receiving a pass from Scott Thornton.  The puck came off his skate, and he managed a hard wrist shot past Denis six minutes into the period. 

The final goal for the Sharks came when Thornton poked the puck back into the Blue Jacket’s zone midway through the final period.  Ekman pounced on the puck and deked Denis, giving Cheechoo a chance for the hat-trick.

"Those guys are the hottest line in hockey this last month," said Blue Jackets’ head coach Gerard Gallant.  "When you give Thornton and Cheechoo and whoever they play with that many opportunities, they will score some goals."

The San Jose Sharks will host division rival Los Angeles Kings this Saturday at 7:30 p.m.